This Draft for Development (DD) gives guidance on the exchange of structured vocabulary data between different computer applications involved in information retrieval.
DD 8723-5 recommends a standard format for exchange of whole thesauri or subsets thereof. The format is applicable to thesauri that conform to BS 8723-2, utilizing any or all of the optional features described therein.
Equally it supports multilingual thesauri displaying structural unity as described in BS 8723-4:2007, 4.2. It does not address the additional needs of the vocabulary types described in BS 8723-3, although in some cases it may be adapted to serve such vocabularies. It does not address the exchange of data providing mappings between vocabularies that do not share the same structure.
DD 8723-5 also considers the interaction between a computer application acting as a server for a structured vocabulary (the server) and an application applying that structured vocabulary to a particular information retrieval problem (the client). It considers only the highest level of protocol, and assumes the existence of lower level network services and protocols that will be required to support computer-to-computer communication over a network.
DD 8723-5 does not address the internal design of systems that provide multiple functions and require communication only between one part and another part of the same application (such as an indexing system that incorporates its own internal subject authority system with a structured vocabulary). Nor does it address the interaction of a computer application and a user, including user interface issues such as commands, menus, windows, buttons, and screen displays (although some guidance on these issues is provided in earlier parts of BS 8723).
Widespread electronic networks and the almost universal use of computers in information management present opportunities for sharing data and information on a scale not previously imaginable: from a single computer connected to the internet one can simultaneously search different collections of books, articles, photographs, data sets, or museum artifacts residing on remote computers all over the world.
The application of standards and facilities for interoperability makes it easier to search any of those collections by subject, where the subject terms used have been drawn from a structured vocabulary.
At the time of publication of this Draft for Development, networking technology is advancing rapidly. Future editions are likely to provide for enhanced interoperability functions.
Contents
Scope
Normative references
Definitions
Functions involving vocabularies that need interoperability
Data model
Notes on the model
Tabular presentation
Exchange formats
XML schema for thesaurus exchange
Exchanging a whole thesaurus
Updating a thesaurus
Exchanging thesaurus subsets
Alternative formats in widespread use
Protocols
Examples of thesaurus data in DD 8723-5 format
Bibliography
This publication is not to be regarded as a British Standard.